I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas
by HoleInTheWorld
Summary: RayNeela. “Oh, yea. Very festive. It’s right up there with the Rudolf movie.”


Disclaimer: I don't own any of it. Not even the computer I wrote it on.

Summary:

Feedback: Reviews are fun. Like a barrel of monkeys. Why anyone would put monkeys in a barrel…I don't know, but it's supposedly a lot of fun.

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Neela made her walked into the club, squeezing through the crowd to make her way to the stage. Brown eyes met green and she saw her roommate's face light up. She smiled at him then gestured to the bar before turning around to get herself a drink.

"Hey." Bret nudged Ray. "You didn't tell me Dr. Neela was coming."

Ray just shrugged as he leaned towards the microphone to finish the song.

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"Hey, Roomie." Ray threw his arm carelessly – or so he told himself – around Neela's shoulders after the band finished their set. "You get all dressed up just for me?"

She looked down at the scrubs she was wearing. "Pratt kept me on for an extra hour, so I didn't have time to change."

"So you _are_ all dressed up just for me." He smirked.

She shoved him playfully. "Don't gloat. I promised you I'd be here."

"No you didn't."

"What?"

"You didn't tell me you were coming here."

She furrowed her eyebrows. "I didn't?"

He shook his head. "I definitely would have remembered if you promised to come to one of my gigs." He turned around when he heard Bret yell his name, and saw his friend waving him over. "Hey," He said to Neela. "Let me go help the guys pack up then we'll go home, okay?"

"Really? You don't have a…" She looked behind him at a group of girls who were very blatantly checking him out. "…date?"

"Nope. Just you and me tonight, Roomie."

"Okay." She looked over her shoulder when Bret yelled Ray's name again then turned back to her roommate. "You better go help. Bret looks like he's about to throw a fit."

"Yea." He nodded. "I'll come get you when we're done."

She turned around and watched him walk over to Bret. They talked for a minute then both looked in her direction; Ray smiled at her while Bret waved and shouted. "Hey, Dr. Neela."

She laughed and waved back. "Hi, Bret."

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Ray walked into the living room carrying a large bowl and two beers. "One bowl of popcorn courtesy of your amazingly wonderful roommate, who just happened to remember to go shopping this morning."

"Now, Ray, I think Mr. Redenbacher deserves some credit." She sat up on the couch so he could sit next to her then turned her blanket to drape half of it over his lap.

He handed her a beer and put the popcorn in her lap before grabbing the remote.

"What are we watching?" She asked, taking a sip.

"Well," He said. "In the spirit of Christmas, I thought we'd watch _The Shining._"

"_The Shining_?" She raised her eyebrows.

He nodded seriously. "It's a very festive movie."

She narrowed her eyes at him but couldn't help the look of amusement that crossed her face. "Oh, yea. Very festive. It's right up there with the Rudolf movie."

He smirked as he reached over to turn the light off, then settled in next to her and pushed 'play'. "Shh. Watch the movie."

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Neela let out a frightened gasp and jumped towards Ray, dumping what popcorn was left in the bowl onto his lap.

He laughed as she buried her face against his shoulder. "You okay?"

"Fine." She turned her head slightly to look at the television then immediately closed her eyes again.

Ray picked up the popcorn bowl and set it on the coffee table then pulled the blanket up over her shoulder when she didn't appear to be moving from his side. He looked down to see her peek one eye at the screen then dropped his arm to rest around her waist, assuring himself that it was just to keep the blanket from slipping.

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Neela stretched and let out a yawn as she blinked her eyes open. She sat up a little to fix her pillow, before realizing her pillow was actually Ray's thigh. She looked up to see her roommate fast asleep with his head resting on the back of the couch. She smiled at him then looked at the clock. _3:30 in the morning_. She stood up and grabbed the remote off the table to turn off the blue screen on the television. Letting out another yawn, she made her way to the kitchen to get a glass of water. She was standing at the sink filling her glass, when she heard a quiet "Here's Johnny," in her ear. She jumped about a foot in the air and dropped the glass before spinning around. "Bloody hell, Ray!" She slapped him in the chest. "Are you trying to kill me?"

"Me?" He said innocently. "Never."

She rolled her eyes and turned back around to get her glass out of the sink when she felt his warm breath on her ear. "If I killed you then what would I do with all the Christmas presents I bought you?"

She turned her head to look at him and noticed how close he was standing. "You bought me a present?"

"Sss."

She furrowed her eyebrows. "What?"

"Present_sss. _Plural." He put on a mock stern face. "And I better not catch you snooping around my room looking for them. You can open them on Christmas and that's that."

She put the glass down on the counter and turned the rest of the way around to face him. "You know I don't…celebrate…Christmas." She was having a little trouble thinking with him standing so close, and she didn't know if it was because she was still half asleep, but she suddenly found her hand inching its way up his stomach to his chest.

He looked down at her hand then shifted his gaze back to her eyes. "So, does that mean I don't get a present?"

She took a step towards him and leaned up to press her lips against his. He slid his hands to her hips returning the kiss eagerly, until she suddenly pulled away. "Oh God." Her hand went to her mouth and she stepped back, out of his reach.

"Neela…"

"Tell me that did not just happen."

"Neela-"

"No!" She held up a hand and walked around him towards the living room before spinning back around to face him. "We are…we're colleagues and…and roommates and we do not-" He closed the distance between them, his lips crashing against hers again. "-kiss." She finished, when he had to pull back for air.

She was silent for a minute and he reached up to push a strand of hair behind her ear. "Please say something."

Instead of responding, she reached her hands up to pull his head back down to hers.

Ray smiled into the kiss and wrapped his arms around her waist as he started walking her over to the couch. She tangled her hands in his hair, not pulling back until her foot caught on the bag he dropped in the middle of the room after his shift and she started to fall backwards.

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Neela dragged Ray into the ER, holding a washcloth against his forehead. "This is friggin' embarrassing. Why couldn't we go to Mercy?"

She pushed the washcloth harder against his head and pulled him towards the desk. "Mercy is farther away from the apartment. And I told you a hundred times not to leave your bag in the bloody living room." She turned her attention to Jerry, who was looking curiously at Ray. "Hey, Jerry. Is Abby around?"

"Yea. She's in Exam 2. Are you okay?" He added to Ray.

"Yea, fine." Ray grumbled, as he and Neela started towards Exam 2. "I can hold the damn washcloth myself." He told her.

She dropped her hand from his head and walked the rest of the way to the exam room. "Abby, can I talk to you for a second?"

Her friend looked up from her patient and nodded. "Uh, sure. I'll be right back Mr. Johnson." She followed Neela out to the hall. "What are you doing here? I thought you didn't work again until Saturday."

"I don't." She led Abby over to where Ray was standing, looking like he'd rather be anywhere else.

"What the hell happened to you?" Abby asked, taking the bloody washcloth off his head.

"He tripped and-"

"I did not trip." He interrupted Neela. "You tripped and made me fall."

"Fine. I tripped." She turned back to Abby. "I tripped over Ray's bag and we fell and he hit his head on the coffee table."

"Okay. Ray, go to Exam 1. I'll be there in a minute."

"Fine." He walked away, grabbing his washcloth from Abby on the way by.

"So…" Abby said smugly, crossing her arms over her chest. "What was that all about?"

"I don't know what you're talking about" Neela said as she walked away from Abby.

"Oh, really?" She said, following her. "If Ray fell when you tripped that would mean you guys were pretty close to each other."

She grabbed the sutures and gave them to Abby. "Fine." She stage whispered. "We were kissing. I kissed him. Then he kissed me. Then I kissed him again and he was walking me towards the couch and I tripped over his bag and when we fell he kind of turned a little so he wouldn't land on me, and he hit his head on the coffee table. Happy?"

She smiled widely. "You have no idea."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"I won the pool."

"You won the _what_? You were betting on us!"

"Yep. And I picked this week."

Neela shook her head. "Can you just go take care of Ray so we can go home?"

"Yea, yea. Just let me finish my guy in 2 and I'll be over."

"Thank you." She smiled at Abby then walked over to Exam 1. "Hey." She said to Ray, who was lying on the bed staring at the ceiling.

He turned his head to look at her. "Hi."

She pulled a stool up next to the bed. "How's your head?"

He shrugged. "Throbbing."

She reached her hand down to lace her fingers through his. "Are we okay?"

"Yea. Of course."

"You seem a little…distant."

"I was just thinking."

"About what?"

He brought her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles. "About how many times you're gonna have to kiss me before I forget about you not buying me a Christmas present."

"And where did you settle on that?"

He smiled. "Oh, you're definitely gonna have to go shopping before Christmas."

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A/N: Well, that was my one-shot Christmas Roomies fic. I actually don't watch ER that much, but I watched a few season 12 episodes and got hooked on Ray/Neela.


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